Sunday, June 11, 2017

Mosul Campaign Day 237 Jun 10 2017

After freeing Zinjali yesterday the Iraqi Security Forces
(ISF) were moving onto the Shifa
neighborhood. Shifa is in central Mosul along the Tigris River. The ISF
attacked the area at the start of the new offensive at the end of May seizing
several hospitals, but that was a trap set by the Islamic State, which then
drove the Iraqi forces out. An army brigade claimed
it penetrated 50 meters into Shifa. The ISF are also trying to take Bab
al-Sinjar, which is one of the entrances to the Old City district. Shifa and
the Old City are the last two parts of the city that the insurgents hold.

The Iraqi army started a new
operation to take Tal Afar to the west of Mosul. 2 brigades from the 15th
Division seized
six villages to the east of Tal Afar. This came at the same time that deputy
Hashd commander Abu Muhandis said
that they were waiting for Baghdad’s orders to take the village. The Hashd
surrounded the town months ago, but were not allowed to attack it due to
political pressure from Turkey. Since then the government has gone back and
forth on whether it would allow the Hashd a role in the operation or not. For
now, it seems they are being kept on the outside wishing to join in.

June 10 was the three year anniversary of the fall of Mosul
to the Islamic State. The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights noted
that no members of the Iraqi Security Forces have been held accountable for
that fiasco. Up to 800 officers were accused of playing a role including senior
officers. The group said that there are military courts that could try to these
people, but the ruling parties had no interest in doing that. The Observatory
condemned their behavior and called for prosecutions. That will never happen as
the Iraqi government is short on transparency, accountability and justice
especially when some of its own are involved.

There was a ceremony
in the Ninewa plains for the re-opening of a Yazidi shrine. The Sheikh Hassan
site was repaired and re-opened with donations by the community. A total of 4
Yazidi shrines have been rebuilt so far. Most of these were destroyed by the
Islamic State that accused the Yazidis of being devil worshipers. Like so many
other groups they are not waiting for the government reconstruction programs
that could take months, and are taking matters into their own hands.
Unfortunately, this will be the pattern across Mosul and Ninewa as Baghdad has
no rebuilding plan nor much money to spend.

IRAQ HISTORY TIMELINE

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About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. I have written for the Jamestown Foundation, Tom Ricks’ Best Defense at Foreign Policy and the Daily Beast, and was responsible for a chapter in the book Volatile Landscape: Iraq And Its Insurgent Movements. My work has been published in Iraq via NRT, AK News, Al-Mada, Sotaliraq, All Iraq News, and Ur News all in Iraq. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5, Radio Sputnik, CCTV and TRT World News TV, and have appeared in CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, The National, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, PBS’ Frontline, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for the Study of War, Radio Free Iraq, Rudaw, and others. I have also been cited in Iraq From war To A New Authoritarianism by Toby Dodge, Imagining the Nation Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq by Harith al-Qarawee, ISIS Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassahn, The Rise of the Islamic State by Patrick Cocburn, and others. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com